Mind over matter.

Will Ben be found guilty in Eastenders tonight? That curry at Krishna’s was delicious- I must remember to get that recipe! Must remember to buy a present for Sheena’s birthday. I need to pack for Belgium by Tuesday.

At any one time there are many thoughts invading our minds. Is it possible to keep a clear mind- a mind where thoughts do not simply seep in and out when they feel? A mind where you are in control?

Tum Chalo To Hindustan Chale...

Service. Sacrifice. Sewa. Shraddha. Sadhana.

All words that we seem to mention every week in our shakhas. But do we truly understand what they mean? Do we understand what it means to be a swayamsevak? Do we understand what sewa is?

We may think that being a swayamsevak means to simply turn up to shakha regularly every week, where ganvesh when appropriate, and that being a swayamsevak simply exists in the boundaries of a shakha.

This reminds me of a recording of a bauddhik I heard by Mananiya Saumitraji Gokhale entitled “Ideals of a Swayamsevak.” In this he mentions that P.P. Doctorji was someone who changed the meaning of “swayamsevak”. A swayamsevak is not merely someone who volunteers but someone who is willing to do whatever it takes for the sake of society. A swayamsevak will do whatever it takes for the sake of society but without thought of himself. .

At SIP abhyaas varg 1 had a session about sewa, sadhana, sacrifice and we began the session by watching a short 2 minute video. The video was entitled “Tum Chalo To Hindustan Chale.” 

The video can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0M0EZ8T5J8

As can be seen there is a lot of distress and impatience being shown. No one is willing to try and move the tree, but instead they think of there own interests and simply jump over the tree to the other side. It takes a small child to decide that he is going to do something about it. I'm sure the child didn't think that he could move the tree by himself, but he still put the effort in. He inspired others to do what he couldn't. He empowered others. His actions were selfless and show the true meaning of sewa and show how we as swayamsevaks should think.

We may not be able to do everything and complete every task to perfection, but we should wholeheartedly attempt whatever is to be done and always put 100% effort in. We may not be able to complete the task however we may empower someone else to do so. In this way, as swayamsevaks, our aim is not only to develop ourselves as swayamsevaks and karyakartas but is also to develop others so that they can carry the Sangh karya forward even further than we can. We can do this by setting an example, by putting the effort in ourselves and by trying to develop ourselves into the “ideal swayamsevak”. Being an ideal swayamsevak should not only exist within the boundaries of our shakhas but we should aim to be the ideal swayamsevak throughout our entire lives.

In the lives of Poojaniya Doctorji and Gandhiji and many others, we can see that one person through the course of his actions and thoughts can inspire many to go further than him.

“Tum Chalo To Hindustan Chale” can, through our thoughts and actions, be brought to fruition.

The Real Test!

We always talk about personal development and how to improve oneself, but how many of us actually abide to what we say? Well the answer is hardly any of us, which is probably why we always go back talking about improving ourselves, because really, if you think about it, we don’t change. We just accept we are how we are.

“Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it. You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it.”
―Elizabeth Gilbert.

This quote reminded me of a story we read and discussed at the first Abhyaas Varg. I’d say fictional story as it seemed so surreal and well… pretty fictional, but then actually, we can all relate to it. The so-called ‘perfect’ world was similar to ours. We know the wrong meaning of happiness. Our happiness is only temporary.

‘The ones who walk away from the Omelas’ describes a perfect non-materialistic town where the whole population is ‘happy’… everyone apart from a small child suffering. If this child wasn’t suffering, the rest of the town would not be able to be ‘happy’. The test the people had to face was to either accept this compromise, ignore the poor state the child was in and carry on living this ‘happy’ life or to take a stand, walk away from the situation and do something better than just accepting this ‘happy’ life.

In the same way, participating in SIP so far has got me thinking that this is the real test. We will always have personal constraints, whether it is family and social commitments or concentration on studies. However, SIP has opened up an opportunity to actually stand up and improve with the power to actually do so.

So the real test has begun, from the project I want to succeed in obviously to our individual daily and weekly targets. Will I actually be able to do something to change? Or will I fail and just go back to accepting how we all are and not do something about it? Let’s See!